Press



Dec. 4, 1934. F. A. HEIDENFELDER PRESS Filed Feb. 9, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheetl I! /4 1 /f 7// IFJ l6 o w I INVEN TOR [71 50 A [72705/1/12105?ATTORNEYS 1934- F. A. HEIDENFELDER 1,983,455

PRESS Filed Feb, 9, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS PatentedDec. 4, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PRESS Application February 9,1931, Serial No. 514,391

7 Claims.

My invention relates to a pressing machine for use in shaping andfinishing garments for the laundry as well as for the garment trade.

One object of my invention is to provide a pressing machine that issimple in construction and yet durable, embodies means for creatinggarment pressing pressure between the pressing members, and also safetymeans for eliminating danger of injury to an operators hands by theirbeing caught between the pressing members during the cycle of movementof the movable pressing member in the pressing operation.

To attain the above object, my invention contemplates the provision of apressing machine embodying relatively movable pressing membersconsisting of, in this instance, a movable head and a stationary bedtogether with means for bringing the pressing members into and out ofcooperative pressing relation including a power unit that may take anydesired form but is shown as a piston and cylinder construction havingsuitable operating connection with the lever on which the pressing headis mounted. It also contemplates provision of control means for thepower unit embodying foot treadle mechanism for operating the usualfluid pressure valves, means independent of the power unit for resistingthe effect of the power unit on the pressing members and embodying alatch or look adapted to be effective on some part of the operatingparts of the power unit or operating connections between the power unitand the movable head to resist the effect of the power unit in closingthe press by bringing the pressing members into co-'- operativerelation, and two-hand control means for rendering such latch or lookineffective. As hereinafter disclosed, the latch or lock comprises twoseparate latches or locks adapted to engage one of the links of thetoggle connection between the power unit and the head lever to preventmovement of the toggle to straightened position unless both of thelatches or looks are moved out of latched position, and an operatinghandle for each latch or lock, the two operating handles being spacedapart on the operators side of the pressing machine to such an extentthat both of the operators hands are necessarily simultaneously used tomove both of the latches or locks out of latched position at the sametime so that the power unit may be effective to bring about pressingengagement of the pressing members. The resisting means is such thatshould one latch or lock only be moved to unlatched position, the powerunit will be ineffective to move the pressing members into pressingengagement and should one latch be released after the press is inoperation, movement of the pressing head toward the pressing bed will bestopped prior to the head reaching such position relative to the bedthat an operators hand might not safely be withdrawn from between thepressing members.

Various other objects and advantageous features of my invention will beseen in the following description and one embodiment thereof may be seenin the accompanying drawings wherein similar characters of referencedesignate corresponding parts, and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a pressing machine constructed in accordancewith my invention with the press in open position; Fig. 2 is a Viewsimilar to Fig. 1 but showing the press in closed position; Fig. 3 is across sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a viewof the valve. operating mechanism; and Fig. 5 is a side view of thetreadle means for closing the intake and opening the exhaust valves thatcontrol the operation of the power unit. Referring to the drawings,particularly Figs. 1 and 2 thereof, the type of press shown comprises aframe 1 having an upwardly extending portion 2 on which a head lever orpressure arm 3 is pivotally mounted as at 4. A pedestal 5 on the frame 1supports a lower pressing member or buck 6 covered by the usual paddingand the head lever or pressure arm 3 carries an upper pressing member orhead 7 to which heat may be supplied by any well known means.

The means for moving the pressing head '7 into and out of engagementwith the pressing bed 6 embodies a power unit that takes the form of acylinder and piston construction embodying a cylinder 8 having a piston9 therein, the piston normally being held in its rearwardmost positionby a spring 10 surrounding the piston rod'll and moved to its operatedposition against the resistance of the spring 10 by fluid pressure froma line 12 and under the control of a suitable inlet valve 13. An exhaustvalve 14 is also provided and the control of these valves will behereinafter described. Operative connection between the power unit andthe head lever 3 is made by a plurality of links 15 and 16 that make upthe well known toggle mechanism, one of the links being connected to thepiston rod 11 as at 1'7 whereby outward movement of the piston willcause straightening of the toggle and engagement of the pressing members6 and '7 for the pressing operation. Movement of the piston in the otherdirection will cause breaking of the toggle as shown in Fig. 1 andseparation of the pressing members.

As hereinbefore stated, the control means for movement of the piston 9in the cylinder 8 to bring about cooperative pressing relation betweenthe pressing members 6 and 7 consists of an inlet valve 13 and anexhaust valve 14. Such inlet valve may be of any desired type but ispreferably of the slide valve variety embodying a sliding closure (notshown) and a stem 18 by means of which the closure may be reciprocatedto selectively open and close the fluid pressure inlet port. Likewise,the exhaust valve 14 may be of any well known type but is preferably ofthe type embodying a rotating closure or a closure that moves in anarcuate path.

The control means for the inlet and exhaust valves embodies two foottreadles 19 and 20 pivotally mounted on the frame and connected togetherby means of links 21 and 22 and a walking beam arrangement 23 that isrigidly mounted on a rotating or oscillating valve closure operating rod24. The connection between the foot treadles 19 and 20 is such thatdownward movement of one foot treadle will result in upward movement ofthe other and vice versa and the arrangement is such that downwardmovement of one foot treadle opens the inlet valve 13 and closes theexhaust valve 14 whereby fluid pressure is admitted to the cylinder andpiston construction just described to move the piston 9 to its operativeposition and thereby effect engagement of the pressing members 6 and 7.Downward'pressure on the other foot treadle will result in closure ofthe inlet valve 13 and opening of the exhaust valve i l whereby thepiston is returned to its normal position by means of the spring 10 anddisengagement of the pressing members 6 and '7 is effected, as shown inFig. 1.

The operating connection between the foot treadle l9 and the inlet valve13 consists of an arm 25 pivotally mounted on the frame 1 and adapted tobe moved forward and backward to and from the stem 18 of the inlet valveto move the valve to closed position or to permit it to be moved to openposition. The arm 25 here shown has a cam surface 26 of the arm 25 thatengages the outermost end 27 of the foot treadle 19, such engagementbeing effected by a spring 28. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, it will beseen that downward movement of the foot treadle 19 will move the arm 25to the left to bear against the stem 18 of the inlet valve closure meansas shown in Fig. 2 and move the valve to, in this instance, openposition. Upward movement of the foot treadle 19 will result in theparts taking the position shown in Fig. 1 wherein the inlet valve 13will be closed.

In accordance with my invention, a latch or locking means is provided,together with control means therefor, for preventing, when desired,movement of the toggle, madeup of the links 15 and 16, to straightenedposition to bring about engagement of the pressing members. As shown inFigs. 1, 2 and 3, the latch or locking means includes two individual andindependent arms 29 pivotally mounted at one of their ends as at 30 onopposite sides of the cylinder 8 and provided adjacent their outermostends with recesses or notches 31 and 32, each arm being provided withtwo recesses or notches spaced from each other. A pin 33 extends throughthe toggle link 16 and this pin is adapted to be engaged by recesses ornotches 31 and 32 of the arms 29 when the arms are in their lowermostposition.

The operating means for the arms 29 consists of rods 34 that extendupwardly from the arms 29 adjacent their pivoted ends, then angularlyrearwardly, and then rearwardly substantially parallel to the arms 29,terminating in handles 35 spaced apart in the front of the pressingmachine, in such manner that when the handles 35 are both moveddownwardly the arms 29 will be raised to disengage the recesses ornotches from the pin 33. Due to the fact that the handles 35 are spacedfrom each other and each handle only operates one of the arms 29, itwill be apparent that the use of both of the operators hands isnecessary to unlock the operating mechanism so that the pressing membersmay be moved into cooperative pressing relation.

In the-operation of this apparatus, the handles are first moveddownwardly to release the latches and thereby the press operatingmechanism by raising the arms 29 that form the latches or lookingmembers, and then the foot treadle 19 is de pressed which will causeopening of the inlet valve 13 and closing of the exhaust valve 14 in themanner hereinbefore described whereby fluid pressure will be admittedtothe cylinder 8 to move the piston 9 forwardly against the resistanceof the spring 10 to straighten out the toggle made up of the links 15and 16 and move the pressing members 6 and '7 into cooperative pressingrelation. However, with my construction, should one of the handles 35 bereleased before the toggle reaches full straightened position, one ofthe arms 29 will drop downwardly whereby the pin 33 will be engaged bythe recess or notch 31 so that the piston will merely push against thelook but will not be efiective to move the toggle to straightened posi--tion, as is also the case when the inlet valve is opened and the exhaustvalve is closed prior to the use of both of the operators hands andraising both of the arms or latching members 29. However, in thisinstance, the pin 33 is engaged by the notches 32. Then, when it iswished to move the pressing members to open position, the foot treadle20'is depressed which will close the inlet valve and open the exhaustvalve as hereinbefore described and the piston 9 will be movedrearwardly under the action of the spring 10 to move the togglemechanism to the position shown in Fig. 1 and the pressing members toopen position.

To move the press to open position, it is not necessary to keep thelatching members 29 in raised position since the pin 33 will ride pastthe recess 212' notch 31 to finally engage the recess or notch Referringto the drawings and the preceding description, it will be seen that Ihave provided a pressing machine embodying numerous novel andadvantageous features. For instance, I have provided a pressing machineembodying a latching means, in this instance, manually operable, re-

quiring the use of both hands of the operator to release the pressoperating mechanism so that the pressing members may be moved topressing engagement.

should one of the hands be removed from the latching mechanism prior tostarting operation of the press or after such operation is started andbefore the pressing members reach initial engagement, the pressoperating mechanism will be again locked to prevent engagement of thepressing members. Thuspa safety means independent of the power means isprovided for preventing injury to the operators hands. Various Further,this latching means isv suchthat, should one hand only be employed orother advantageous features will be readily apparent.

What I claim is:

1. In a pressing machine, a pair of relatively movable, cooperatingpressing members, mechanism adapted when operated to effect engagementand disengagement of said pressing members, means for operating saidmechanism, control means for said operating means, latch means for saidmechanism normally preventing operation thereof to effect engagement ofsaid pressing members, and hand operable release means for said latchmeans, said latch means being effective, upon release of said releasemeans prior to engagement of said pressing members, to arrest operationof said mechanism to thereby prevent such engagement of said pressingmembers.

2. In a pressing machine, a pair of relatively movable, cooperatingpressing members, mechanism adapted when operated to effect engagementand disengagement of said pressing members, means for operating saidmechanism, control means for said operating means, latch means for saidmechanism normally preventing operation thereof to effect engagement ofsaid pressing members, and a pair of widely separated hand operablerelease means for said latch means, said latch means being effective,upon release of either of said release means prior to engagement of saidpressing members, to arrest operation of said mechanism to prevent suchengagement of said pressing members.

3. In a pressing machine, a pair of relatively movable, cooperatingpressing members, mechanism adapted when operated to effect engagementand disengagement of said pressing members, means for operating saidmechanism, control means for said operating means, two independent latchmeans for said mechanism, each normal- 1y preventing operation thereofto effect engagement of said pressing members, and two independent, handoperable release means, one for each latch means, each of said latchmeans being effective, upon release of its release means prior toengagement of said pressing members, to arrest operation of saidmechanism to thereby prevent such engagement of said pressing members.

4. In a pressing machine, a pair of relatively movable, cooperatingpressing members, toggle mechanism adapted when operated to effectengagement and disengagement of said pressing members and provided witha latch pin, a latch bar having a shoulder adapted for engagement withsaid latch pin, said latch bar being adapted, when its shoulder is inengagement with said latch pin, to prevent operation of said togglemechanism to effect engagement of said pressing members, and hand meansfor actuating said latch bar to effect disengagement of its shoulderwith said latch pin to thereby permit said mechanism to effectengagement of said pressing members.

5. In a pressing machine, a pair of relatively movable, cooperatingpressing members, toggle mechanism adapted when operated to effectengagement and disengagement of said pressing members and provided witha latch pin, a piston and cylinder structure for operating saidmechanism, control means for said power means, a latch bar pivoted onthe cylinder of said piston and cylinder structure and having a shoulderadapted for engagement with said latch pin, said latch bar beingadapted, when its shoulder is in engagement with said latch pin, toprevent operation of said mechanism to effect engagement of saidpressing members and being ineffective to prevent operation of saidmechanism to effect disengagement of said pressing members, and handmeans for actuating said latch bar to effect disengagement of itsshoulder with said latch pin.

6. In a pressing machine, a pair of relatively movable, cooperatingpressing members, mechanism adapted when operated to effect engagementand disengagement of said pressing members, said mechanism beingprovided with a latch pin, means for operating said mechanism, controlmeans for said operating means, a pivotally mounted latch bar havinglongitudinally spaced shoulders each adapted for engagement with saidlatch pin, said latch bar being adapted, when a shoulder thereof is inengagement with said latch pin, to prevent operation of said mechanismto effect engagement of said pressing members, and means for actuatingsaid latch bar to effect disengagement of any of the shoulders thereofwith said latch pin, said latch bar actuating means requiring for theoperation thereof the use of both hands of the pressing machineoperator.

'7. In a pressing machine, a pair of relative1y\115 movable, cooperatingpressing members, mechanism adapted when operated to effect engagementand disengagement of said pressing members, said mechanism beingprovided with a latch pin, means for operating said mechanism, controlmeans for said operating means, a latch bar having two shoulders eachadapted for engagement with said latch pin, said latch bar beingadapted, when one of its shoulders is in engagement with said latch pin,to prevent the initiation of the operation of said mechanism to effectengagement of said pressing members and being adapted, when its othershoulder is in engagement with said latch pin, to arrest such operationof said mechanism, and hand operable means for actuating said latch barto effect disengagement of any of the shoulders thereof with said latchpin FRED A. I-IEIDENFELDER.

